Median Physician Income By Specialty

Posted by Milton Recht:

From The New York Times, Economix Blog, "Debating Doctors’ Compensation" by Uwe E Reinhardt:

Source: The New York Times

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Source: The New York Times

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Standard economic theory suggests that over all, American doctors are overpaid, although perhaps not the primary-care specialties. This position leans on the fact that at existing incomes there is still considerable excess demand for places in medical schools among bright American youngsters – not to mention a huge pool of highly qualified foreign applicants. This suggests that the lamented doctor shortage in the United States is the result of an artificially constrained supply of medical school places and residency slots, which serves to inflate physician incomes above what they would be in a better functioning market without supply constraints.